Why the Best RevOps Leaders Think Like Marathoners – Lessons from Udemy’s Esther Friend
In the Revenue Mavericks podcast, Udemy’s VP of Revenue Operations Esther Friend shares how her international experience, career-defining networking moments, and deep empathy for frontline sales teams have shaped her adaptable, intentional, and marathoner-like approach to driving scalable RevOps transformations through questioning norms, seizing unexpected opportunities, and designing user-centered systems.
For the first episode of the Revenue Mavericks podcast, the host sat down with Esther Friend, VP of Revenue Operations at Udemy. What stood out was not just her global experience or her track record of driving complex GTM transformations, but the underlying themes of intentional learning, adaptability, and a marathoner’s mindset.
1. The Experience That Changed Everything
Before entering sales or RevOps, Esther lived abroad in Sevilla, Spain for a year and a half. Immersed in a culture with different rhythms, norms, and assumptions, she learned a key lesson:
There’s never just one “right” way to operate.
This openness—to questioning existing processes, challenging assumptions, and seeing alternative paths—is a foundational RevOps skill. Her early international experience made her more adaptable, curious, and willing to ask why things are done a certain way.
2. The Inflection Point That Accelerated Her Career
Her career took a turn during what she thought was a simple networking breakfast. The COO of Angie's List recognized her as a highly technical business leader who could translate vision into systems, processes, and engineering roadmaps.
That conversation led to leading sales platform transformation, owning Sales Ops and PMO, and ultimately driving a major integration between Angie’s List and HomeAdvisor.
A reminder:
Career-defining opportunities often show up when we’re not “trying”—they show up when we simply show up.
3. The Secret Sauce: Empathy Meets Scale
Esther’s superpower is her empathy for frontline teams—because she’s been one of them. She’s run outbound motions, saved at-risk customers, and led sales teams. That experience anchors how she designs systems:
- Talk to frontline sellers.
- Understand their day-in-the-life.
- Capture winning behaviors.
- Automate and scale them.
One example: redesigning a contracting process so reps could draw a circle on a map to generate a quote, dramatically reducing time and improving customer experience.
This is design thinking applied to RevOps:
human input → repeatable workflow → scalable system.
Why This Matters for GTM Leaders
Esther embodies what today’s GTM organizations need:
- Leaders who are students of the game
- Operators who listen before architecting solutions
- Builders who combine empathy with automation
- Athletes who play the long game
If you want a masterclass in modern RevOps leadership, her episode is worth your time.